Did i do it right?  Please correct me guys.  Thanks.
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The General signs the paper with no hesitation.

V.O :CELL PHONE VIBRATING

INT:  BEDROOM- NIGHT

The mobile device laying on a night stand is indicating the time is 2:33AM.  It VIBRATES.  After vibrating twice, a hand reaches it.  
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In this scene, I want to put the cell phone vibrating sound as the general is signing before we are taken to the next scene, the bedroom.  As you can see above, it's what I think I should do, but I have a very bad feeling it's not right.  Right?

You would never have a V.O. of a cell phone vibrating.  V.O. stands for voice over.  Is a cell phone vibrating a voice?

Just say...

Off-screen, a cellphone vibrates.  

INT:  BEDROOM- NIGHT

I think Coldbug means, we hear a totally irrelevant noise at the end of a scene and cut to where that noise was coming from.

Hard to explain . It's not really a voice over, it's just so the transition looks smoother. I'm not sure how to do it but I think it's the editor/director's job to do this?

I'll try and find a scene on youtube if I can...

Yeah, no reason to attempt this kind of stuff, IMO, as you're totally trying to direct the shot, and it's not your job to worry about it or get involved with it.  It has nothing to do with your story.

You do the writing, let the Director do the directing.

It's done how you feel it's done best & how cleanly you feel it comes off the page.
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The General signs the paper with no hesitation.

The sound of a cell phone VIBRATING.

INT:  BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS

a CELL PHONE indicates "2:33AM".
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Maybe just try it different ways & see what you're happy with.

Yeah, this is the editors job.

Unless it is worth it, it's safe to say there's not much point in this, especially if it's just a cell phone buzzing. - Is this relevant to anything? What does the vibrate symbolize? Editing is an important storytelling device, just as important as anything else in a movie's production, so if your gonna put it in your script, it has to be real important IMO.

If it was something monumentally important to the narrative, like a SMASH CUT to someone's imagination depicting the death of a loved one (e.g. a CAR CRASH sound -- then little Jimmy flies out a windscreen) then maybe.  

Others got to this first, but I will add a little bit.

It isn't your job as a writer to overlap sounds in scenes like this unless it is crucial to your story.

Just as a fun fact, though... That is know as a SOUND BRIDGE.

No, it's actually known as a "PRELAP" and it's perfectly acceptable to use it. If done right it shows you can master a transition.

Screenwriting term: Prelap
Post-production term:  Sound bridge


I think scripts often indicate when something is prelap by directly using the term prelap (Ie, "A cellphone VIBRATES PRELAP" or "PRELAP: A cellphone VIBRATES").  There's nothing wrong with doing it, although I'd advise against this one unless, as above, it's totally necessary to the story, which is frankly hard to imagine in this particular example.

Quoted from sniper No, it's actually known as a "PRELAP" and it's perfectly acceptable to use it. If done right it shows you can master a transition.

Yes, it is a "PRELAP" but why anyone would be wanting to use them in a Spec script is way beyond me.  It's a space waster, it's confusing, and it's completely unnecessary.

We may see it used quite often in a finished film, but that's because it's a visual thing and brings nothing to the table in a written Spec script.

I work for a film production company in Los Angeles and I can tell you they are not fans of writers directing on the page unless it actually affects the story. Including PRELAPS...

I call it a sound bridge because in post-production, where it's actually appropriate to do this, that's what they call it.

Hope you don't mind me popping into your discussion but this seems a useful topic.

I'm writing a feature and have an opening scene where at the end I have used an overlapping sound as a transition. There is a relevance to the sound its not just a phone for example.

I can imagine that meaningless sounds going from one scene to another don't work but surely there are occasions where it helps the read and connectivity of the scenes, like a character who starts speaking in one scene but ends up in the following.

When reading scripts I rather like it when a writer uses these to aid connectivity and flow, but I would welcome comments.

Quoted from Reef Dreamer When reading scripts I rather like it when a writer uses these to aid connectivity and flow, but I would welcome comments.

As I said, IMO, it's a huge mistake and you're just asking for trouble by potentially confusing the reader.

You'll see writers attempting this every now and then and it rarely works the way they think it does.  Same goes for using a "MATCH CUT" or the like.

The thing is...why do it?  Why risk confusing or pissing your readers off?

But, I will say this, as in everything in life, moderation of almost anything is usually acceptable...just don't do it right out of the gate and make sure your writing is strong enough to warrant you doing things you know you shouldn't be doing.

This is a little bit of a toughy, because it can go either way.  If you pull it off and it reads good in somebody's head, you'll look like you know what you're doing and a reader will trust the rest of your script.  If you don't pull it off and it reads awkward and confusing, you lose that trust and a reader will be very iffy moving forward.

I'd have to say, in your example, coldbug, I wouldn't try to play around too much unless that sound actually ties in to the next scene, which it doesn't seem to in your case.  The general signs a paper, and a phone vibrates?  There's no connection.  Maybe if the general picked up a phone and all of a sudden we heard the vibrating of whoever he was calling, then it might be okay.  But as it reads in that snippet, that second scene stands on a whole other scene in its own and shouldn't be intertwined with the previous.  (IN THE SCRIPT I'm talking about, by the way.  When the editors get to it, a sound bridge can work beautifully.  But in the script, it seems to get in the way of this example.)

But what Reef Dreamer brought up, how the sound ties in to the next scene, that's very capable of being pulled off.

I have a script that after every scene, I used a character's dialogue over black before finishing off their dialogue in the next scene.  (Actually, Dreamscale, you helped me edit that one before I sent it in to the director.)

It sounds really confusing to do that, but I think I ultimately needed it because the scenes were presented out of order, and that over black dialogue helped figure out the timeline while still adding dramatic tension.

The director liked that idea.  A couple weeks later he sent me the shooting script he was going to use and that 'overblack' dialogue was formatted exactly like I had it in the spec.

Of course, there's no telling if it's going to work or not until we see the performances, (the script's been shot and is in editing), but I felt good about myself that the director (who isn't a student filmmaker) wrote that part in his shooting script exactly as I had written it.

I'd say, if you do try and use that method, tie the sound in to the next scene somehow, but don't go overboard and do it every scene.  It will get old real fast.

- Mark

I actually like it when done well. If it's not done well however, then well... it just doesn't work. I know one particular person here at SS that does an amazing job with this. at least in my opinion. yes it is a Mario cake by one